Crúac (Strigoi)
Main_Page > Vampire: The Requiem > Bloodlines > The_Strigoi > Crúac As the white witch of the river Danube, Lizuca became a renowned sorceress, becoming versed in the languages of spirits and the petitioning of dire gods and goddesses. Three Goddesses were particularly important to Lizuca, the Snake Maiden, the Bone-legged Witch, and the Moist Mother Earth, the Bone Witch in particular having been her manifestation of the Crone and her idol of power. Learning much from the spirits of the land, Lizuca developed blood rituals of her own, derived of the slavic pagan traditions of her teachers. Lizuca understood that all things animate and inanimate had spirits, spirits that could be called and awoken. Her rituals she passes on to only her most trusted students. The Strigoi Morti have taken up this task of passing down the inheritance of Lizuca's knowledge, and they don't do so lightly. In order to learn these rituals one must have dots in Status: Strigoi equal to the dots of the desired ritual. Whispers of the Restless Dead (Level-One Crúac Ritual) Spirits of the dead, who have unclean deeds to atone for, are called by the commands of this ritual to haunt an individual. They whisper foul threats and blasphemies just loud enough for the unfortunate victim to hear, but not always understand. They have an unsettling effect on mortals and kindred alike, as the spirits can feel the emotions of the living and like to play to them. Successes from the casting of this ritual subract from a characters composure pools while in the presence of the Koldun. This power is resisted by Resolve + Blood Potency. Strength of the Mountain Stone (Level-One Crúac Ritual) Calling on the protection of Moist Mother Earth, the Koldunya ingests four handfulls of dirt and is thus granted her blessing. The Koldunya's skin becomes incredibly tough akin to stone. However this has the side effect of reducing the Koldunya's speed and agility. The Koldunya gains 2/2 armor, however she suffers a -2 to her Speed, Initiative, and Dexterity rolls. This effect lasts for the scene or until it has reduced a number of dice equal to the successes from the casting. On the round after it exceeds that number, a fine dust shakes off the skin of the Koldunya and she returns to normal. Awaken the Domovoi (Level-Two Crúac Ritual) The Strigoi have long dealt with invaders in their lands. By use of this ritual, the Koldun awakens the dorment spirits of his haven to better protect and aid the sorcerer. These spirits will warn him of guests at the door, or approaching enemies. Minor feats of movement are also possible by the spirits of the house. Candles or lights might light themselves, doors may close shut and even lock themselves, rooms may seem comfortable or cold for no reason. All in all such effects are comparable with a minor haunting and are not usually enough to cause damage or harm an unwelcome guest, just impede them. This ritual encompasses one building down to its foundation, and lasts until the next night, and thus must be performed nightly in order to be maintained. While the spirits of the building in question can be many and varied they often have a group personality and presense. They may not always serve to the best of their ability, but they are assumed to be faithfull to the Koldun as if bound by a Vinculum. The Power, Finesse, and Resistance of this group presence are determined by divying the successes from the roll. No one attribute can be higher than the Koldun's Cruác level. The Call of the Vodyanoi (Level-Two Crúac Ritual) Spirits of rivers and streams, these creatures can create illusions at the call of the Koldunya, and thus fool the unwary towards watery deaths. Such illusions are cast above a body of water and can have full sight and sound, although they fade when touched and can only be recalled as a hazy memory. The Size of the illusion create is limited by the number of successes generated, and its bounds cannot extend beyopnd the limits of the body of water used to summon it. The water must be alteast an inch deep. Those who view the illusion have a chance to see through them, by exceeding the Koldunya's successes with a Wits + Composure roll. Marena's Cold Breathe (Level-three Crúac Ritual) Marena, Goddess of winter, sickness, and death is beckoned to aid the Koldun against his enemies. So invoked, she causes chill winds to kick up within Koldun's presence. These winds hinder the movement of others and can even cause frostbite. For as much as 100 yards, chill winds whip out in one direction from Koldun's position. Each success of the Ritual is subracted from the speed of any who move towards the Koldun. In addition those within these unatural winds suffer one point of bashing damage per round from the wind chill and cold temperatures. There may be secondary effects that the storyteller may decide to include, such as frozen puddles of water, extreme frost on nearlby objects and such. Svarog's Hammer (Level-Three Crúac Ritual) Intoning praises to Svarog the fire lord, and calling for his aid, the Koldunya can cause an inanimate object to heat up and eventually combust. This ritual is potentially dangerous in the hands of brash young kindred and it is taught with a measure of prudence. Once a fire is started by Svarog it is no longer under the control of the sorceress who summoned it. The Koldunya must aquire a number of successes equal to 3 + Durablility + Structure of the object before it will burst into flames after which the flames will run on what fuel the have. If the object in question is not conducive to fire, such as concrete or metal, it will reach a melting stage when its Durability + Structure is reached and it will start to cool immediately after. Those in contact with the object in question may recieve damage from the item being superheated. Anyone in contact with such an item or thing takes 1 lethal wound for every success past the object's Durability. Vampires take aggravated damage from flames that may burst at the end of the ritual's effect, if still in contact with the object in question. Remember that while some items have no Durability, their size counts towards their structure. For example: : Mother, a powerful inquisitor has been lying to Lester, a brash Strigoi Morti. Lester decides to teach him a lesson and begins to cast Svarog's Hammer on Mother's leather pants. The pants have effectively no Durability but have a size of 3 giving them a structure of 3. Lester will have to generate 6 successes before Mother's pants burst into flame. Mother will probably notice before this as the leather starts to steam and crack. The Embrace of Mokosh (Level-four Crúac Ritual) Sinking into the earth up the neck, The Koldun is rejuvinated by the cool grasp of Most Mother Earth. Mokosh goddess of hearth and home tends the Koldun’s wounds, sealing them with her magic. Even aggravated wounds can be healed this way, although not as fast as other wounds. The Koldun within Mokosh's Embrace may heal wounds at 1/2 cost. If the Koldun sleeps the day away in this manner even Aggravated wounds can be healed by this ritual at a cost of 2 vitae instead of 5, and may be healed at a rate of one per night. Grasp of Stribog (Level-Four Crúac Ritual) Within the grasp of the wind god, The Koldunya can travel great distances. The Koldunya's body becomes ephemeral and travels through the sky at great speeds, landing and instantly becoming material in a flash. Using this ritual takes the Koldunya's action and causes the sorceress to move to a predetermined destination at speeds comparable to 50 mph/73 yards per turn (that of a strong gust). The Koldunya's body is immaterial for the duration, becoming like a faint whisp of smoke or vapor that is blown across strong winds. The ritual ends when the Koldunya reaches the stated destination or after a number of rounds equal to the successes achieved. If the Koldunya has not reached the destination at the end of a number of rounds equal to the successes achieved, then she must roll again to stay adrift for the new successes in rounds. If she makes no successes, she lands safety on the ground at the end of the last round. Using this ritual indoors is dangerous as the Koldunya moves so fast that he has no cotrol over where she lands and the winds that carry her buffet her about. Nor can the Koldunya use this ritual to enter a building or other structure from outside even through an open door or window. Those that try stop just short of where they intended to enter. Perun's Wrath (Level-Five Crúac Ritual) God of war and thunder, Perun is invoked to create a looming storm over the Koldun and for his lightning to be thrown down upon his enemies. Such storms cover up to 5 square miles, and throw down torrential amounts of precipitation if the Koldun wishes. Perun's lightning strikes at the Koldun's command, however it cannot strike inside a building, unless the Koldun wishes the building itself to be struck. The storm breaks with sudden speed, after the full round has passed. For the scene, the Koldun may call one lightning strike per round. To hit a target the Character must make a Wits + Occult roll. Armor not specific to electricity does not help reduce the attack pool. Each strike does 10 levels of bashing damage plus the successes from the attack roll. Sight of the Many (Level-Five Crúac Ritual) By communing with the many spirits of the land, the Koldunya can link with them and share their senses, feeling out the land for a good distance. The senses of spirits are different from most, and do not include sight. Instead the Koldunya feels the surface of every rock, tree and stone within the rituals effect. She can feel where any living creatures are, and can here their sound if she wishes, but that is all. A Koldunya thus empowered is rarely ever lost, unless confounded by other supernatural powers. This ritual lasts for one scene, and has a range of 1 mile per success in the outdoors, but only 50 feet per success within a building or structure. The Koldunya can make Wits + Composure rolls to focus in on one area of their awareness and perceive it in detail. Otherwise there are too many stimulai to notice everything going on within the Koldunya's range. Moving objects are easier to detect and do not require a roll to be aware of their general localation, but unless the Koldunya focuses, they reveal nothing more about themselves besides relative size. When focusing, the Koldunya projects her sense to a specific spot and has a sense comparable to echolocation, and thus can percive objects physically, but cannot percieve color, or read. While focusing, the Koldunya's normal senses are dormant. Obfuscate still has the ability to confound this power, as it effects the spirits that make it work. The Koldunya may employ Auspex in a focused area however. Devotions Strigoi Main Page Category:World of Darkness 2004 (nWoD)